Improvements to Onshape - September 14th 2016

NeilCooke

Onshape 2017 is here! What?!? Sorry, my mistake, it's just the usual round of awesome new enhancements to your favorite full-cloud CAD. It's a lot of hard work creating these What's New videos, but I'd much rather do this every three weeks than once a year - enjoy yet another HUGE update!

MULTIPLE SECTION PLANES

The way you create section views in Part Studios and Assemblies has now completely changed - you no longer have to preselect a planar face before activating the Section View tool. You can also now select up to 3 planar faces to define your section, each with its own section view manipulator that you can drag by a defined distance, snap to model geometry, flip and rotate.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/wylfwuawrj?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

COLOR PALETTE WITH CUSTOM COLORS

The Appearance Editor now has a default color palette to make it easier to assign colors to Parts. You can also store up to 55 custom colors (linked to your Onshape account) and use these colors in any Part Studio in any Document.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/23j5o2vpe5?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

MESH REFERENCE GEOMETRY

Onshape now imports OBJ and STL files as meshes for use as reference geometry in a Part Studio. You can transform, pattern and mirror a mesh, derive it into other Part Studios, and use any vertex from the mesh as a reference for a plane, a sketch entity, or a feature.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/trl35g90c7?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

INSERT SKETCHES AND SURFACES INTO ASSEMBLIES

Sketches and surfaces can now be inserted into an assembly and used as reference geometry. You can use sketches as layouts in your assembly and insert imported parts that are built using surfaces only.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/hdenf9l0hx?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

TRANSFORM SKETCH BY VALUE OR BY SNAPPING

The Sketch Transform tool now lets you translate and rotate by exact distances or angles and snap to existing sketch geometry.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/otxyng760q?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

RIB FEATURE

Onshape now has a built-in Rib feature! Simply create a sketch of the network of ribs and specify the thickness and direction.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/290nht69fx?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

Z-AXIS VERTICAL ROTATION

If you hold down the ALT key while rotating your model, the Z-axis will remain vertical with respect to the screen.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/cdor9eljcg?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

TAP DEPTH AND CLEARANCE

The Hole feature now gives you separate control over tap depth and tap clearance (number of full threads clearance at the bottom of the hole). Adjusting the tap depth will adjust the hole depth accordingly (and vice versa) and adjusting the tap clearance will adjust the hole depth.

PLANE MANIPULATORS

Offset Planes and Line Angle Planes now have an on-screen manipulator to make it easier to approximate the position of the plane before entering a precise value.

SEARCH FILTERS AND RELEVANT DOCUMENTS IN INSERT DIALOG

When inserting parts into an Assembly or creating a Derived feature in a Part Studio, a search field is now available when browsing Documents and using filters, helping you to find Documents faster. Also, when browsing for a Document containing a DXF file, image, or FeatureScript feature, the Insert dialog will show only the Documents that contain the object type you are looking for. The relevant Documents are displayed in bold and all other Documents are dimmed.

SCROLLING VERSION GRAPH

When a Document has a lot of branches, Onshape will now add scrollbars to the top and bottom of the Version Graph. If you are using a trackpad or a mouse with horizontal scroll capabilities, you can also scroll the graph when the scrollbars are not visible on screen.

TAB FOLDER NAMES

Now when you select one or more tabs in the tab manager, then right-click and choose "Add selection to folder", Onshape will prompt you immediately to enter a name for the new folder. If you want to accept the default name, press Enter or Esc.

IMPORTED PART VALIDATION

When 3D data is imported into Onshape, each body is checked to ensure it is a valid solid. In this latest update Onshape now lists the names of all the parts that failed validation to make it easier for you to locate the troublesome parts.

DRAWINGS

• Automatic graphics refinement - the Refine Graphics button in Drawings is no more. Onshape will now automatically refine ALL graphics based on zoom level.

                 

• Performance improvements for notes - performance has been significantly improved when editing long notes or notes that use truetype fonts.

FEATURESCRIPT

• FeatureScript notices - now appear at the bottom of the graphics area in a separate resizable panel. This gives you the full width of the screen to read messages and ensures your model is visible at all times. 
  
  
  
  
• New queries:
       qLargest - finds the largest entity (by length, area, or volume) within a subquery. 
       qSmallest - finds the smallest entity (by length, area, or volume) within a subquery.

We hope you enjoy using these new features - as always, all feedback is welcome. Waiting for a particular new feature? Please use the Feedback tool to request it - we're already hard at work on the next round of updates for you!

Remember: The updates listed here are now live for all users when creating new documents and over the next few days these features will also be available in documents created before the date of this update.  

øyvind_kaurstad

Wow, just wow! This update is just AWESOME. A lot of what I have wanted and sorely missed has been added. Thank you for your hard work, I can't wait to get going with these new features. Thank you, Onshape team! This update surely did not disappoint (for me)!

coleman

Awesome job

3dcad

This update has more user requested features than I have ever got with yearly updates for other cads.

Special thank you for sketch transform and possibility to add sketches into assembly!

We will surely keep the feedback coming!

jackson_king

MaGoo, you've done it again!!

brucebartlett

Great new features. Great work Onshape team.  It's good to see that a lot of what is discussed here on the forum is being added, it only seems like a few weeks since we had a discussion about the colour palette and it's already been updated. Love how the meshes work theywill be really handy as well as sketches in assembles. Awesome 

Bring on sheet metal and configurations/variants

Narayan_K

Nice Updates...Keep it up

Pascoe_Design

Fantastic updates to the surfacing features! I can now import easily composite mould CNC surfaces drawn in Rhino and post-process easily surface fillets & model thickness of the moulded composite parts - all the things which Rhino struggles with. 
Well done! 

øyvind_kaurstad

Some general questions regarding updates:

What are the criteria for when updates are being rolled out to existing documents? I've noticed that some of my documents has been upgraded, while others have not. I guess you have a queue of sorts, but what decides the order of that queue? Last modification date of a document? Document size? Free vs Pro user? Time zone of user (upgrading during the night might make sense)?

I guess there is no way for the user to somehow force a specific document to upgrade, other than wait for it to happen? It would have been nice if a document had been moved up the queue if the user opens it and starts working on it. Sometimes one really want to try out the new features on existing documents. I'm not sure this would really add much load to your servers, because this is more the exception than the rule, I'd guess.

lougallo

@øyvind_kaurstad There are a number of things that we do an criteria we evaluate when it comes to updates.  We try to do them at off hours and do pay attention to more recent documents and have a number of details that make our decision on if and when these take place.   Today we do not have a way for a user to trigger this but we are working on some solutions to make you aware of the state and trigger this when applicable.  Stay tuned.

Andrew_Enslow_HPI

Wow! I am always impressed by how much you crank out every 3 weeks. My favorites this round are Sketches in Assemblies - that will really aid my Top Down Assembly method, as well as the sweet rib feature. Its nice to see the feature script sample go big league.

Meshes took me by surprise...I'll have to check this out! Multiple section views is cool and colors are always fun. Thanks again!

Hmm...the color example seemed to end with a sheet metal part (or an excellent imitation of one). Definitely excited to see that in the works - can't wait for that update.

Mitch_Pricer

This is awesome. Every time a big update like this rolls out it only reminds me why my companies use Onshape! Mesh integration will be incredibly useful as we previously had to jump back and forth between Onshape and Confusion360 to accomplish this. 

brian_brady

NeilCooke said:

RIB FEATURE

Onshape now has a built-in Rib feature! Simply create a sketch of the network of ribs and specify the thickness and direction.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/290nht69fx?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

Z-AXIS ROTATION

If you hold down the ALT key while rotating your model on screen, the Z-axis will remain vertical giving you a turntable-style effect.

http://onshape.wistia.com/medias/cdor9eljcg?embedType=async&videoWidth=640

I love the rib feature. Much better than making a closed sketch and extruding, especially when you have curved surfaces to deal with.

I have not had any luck getting the z-axis rotation to work. Tried my Mac using Safari and Chrome with and without a mouse and a PC with a mouse running Firefox. Anybody else have this problem? 

brucebartlett

brian_brady said:

I have not had any luck getting the z-axis rotation to work. Tried my Mac using Safari and Chrome with and without a mouse and a PC with a mouse running Firefox. Anybody else have this problem? 

Works OK for me on windows, haven't tried on Mac yet. 

don_howe

These are some awesome updates. I really like that you can now insert sketches and surfaces into an assembly. If you insert sketches or surfaces into an assembly are they or should they show up in the drawing(s)?

viru

Fantastic updates. Thank you, Onshape team introducing surfaces and sketches into an assembly.

3dcad

Mitch_Pricer said:

.. Confusion360 .. 

  

labern

This is really great. All updates are awesome. Good start for meshes but keep the STL import features coming (Mesh to Solid)

chrisjh777

TAB FOLDER NAMES

Now when you select one or more tabs in the tab manager, then right-click and choose "Add selection to folder", Onshape will prompt you immediately to enter a name for the new folder. If you want to accept the default name, press Enter or Esc.

I can't get this to work.  I do not get a "Add selection to folder" choice when I right click on a Tab.  (See attached image).

The only way I can move a tab into a folder is to drag it to the top level, then drag it into the appropriate folder.

chris_8

I've always had some sort of mental block with the Onshape Versions And History tree.  The animation displayed for the SCROLLING VERSION GRAPH above is like a personal nightmare, complete with  a sensation of vertigo while viewing.     Usually I just avoid the tree and pretend it doesn't exist, surviving on aptly-named tabs and documents.  But that scrolling tree animation can't be ignored:   It jumps off the screen almost.

I hope to comprehend this tree and its long vine-like branches eventually. 

owen_sparks

Wow, great updates.

Other companies might be tempted to stock-pile new features and drip feed them.  OS seem to push them out when they're done, tested and ready.

Not sure how many of the devs read the forums but please pass on my appreciation to those hard working souls.

Cheers,

Owen S,

paul_premakumar

brian_brady said:

I have not had any luck getting the z-axis rotation to work. Tried my Mac using Safari and Chrome with and without a mouse and a PC with a mouse running Firefox. Anybody else have this problem? 

The z-axis rotation works with the Onshape view manipulation settings and not other CAD system settings. This can be found under Account settings > Preferences > View manipulation settings. If are using the Onshape settings, please let support know. 

brian_brady

paul_premakumar said:

brian_brady said:

I have not had any luck getting the z-axis rotation to work. Tried my Mac using Safari and Chrome with and without a mouse and a PC with a mouse running Firefox. Anybody else have this problem? 

The z-axis rotation works with the Onshape view manipulation settings and not other CAD system settings. This can be found under Account settings > Preferences > View manipulation settings. If are using the Onshape settings, please let support know. 

The announcement does not say anything about only working for users using the default manipulation settings. If this is true, it should be clearly stated that not everyone will have access to the feature. To me, rotation is rotation, regardless of what settings you are using.

brian_brady

Onshape made one of my student's day yesterday with the transform sketch feature. He put his initial sketch in the wrong orientation so I showed him how easy the transform tool could fix his problem.

3dexter

Package updates amazing, thank Onshape team.

One possibility which I hope a long time in Onshape and for a brief moment I thought I had been deployed in this update is the possibility of coloring only the faces of a body and not the whole body as it is today.

Onshape is looking for it?

ChuckKey

Z-axis rotation seems so much easier to control. Perhaps it should be the default?

chris_8

paul_premakumar said:

brian_brady said:

I have not had any luck getting the z-axis rotation to work. Tried my Mac using Safari and Chrome with and without a mouse and a PC with a mouse running Firefox. Anybody else have this problem? 

The z-axis rotation works with the Onshape view manipulation settings and not other CAD system settings. This can be found under Account settings > Preferences > View manipulation settings. If are using the Onshape settings, please let support know. 

I felt like it wasn't working for me either, but then I realized this feature doesn't provide the effect I was expecting.    The blue line representing your Z axis remains vertical onscreen, however it's only vertical relative to the sides of your monitor.  The top of that Z axis can still be tilted toward or away from you.   So the description of a turntable style effect seems off.

øyvind_kaurstad

ChuckKey said:

Z-axis rotation seems so much easier to control. Perhaps it should be the default?

It doesn't need to be the default either, but it would be nice if it could be included in the account preferences.

chris_8

What an amazing list of improvements.      After each one of these updates it seems my models require less time to design.    I think it's a combo of my learning OnShape, and OnShape becoming more intuitive.  Thanks OnShape Team!

owen_sparks

chris_8 said:

I felt like it wasn't working for me either, but then I realized this feature doesn't provide the effect I was expecting.    The blue line representing your Z axis remains vertical onscreen, however it's only vertical relative to the sides of your monitor.  The top of that Z axis can still be tilted toward or away from you.   So the description of a turntable style effect seems off.

Yup, me too. I was expecting a "lock z-axis"  effect from the description.  One of the first times that OS hasn't done exactly what I'd assumed a feature would do.  Usually it's telepathic. :-)

john_mceleney

chris_8 said:

I've always had some sort of mental block with the Onshape Versions And History tree.  The animation displayed for the SCROLLING VERSION GRAPH above is like a personal nightmare, complete with  a sensation of vertigo while viewing.     Usually I just avoid the tree and pretend it doesn't exist, surviving on aptly-named tabs and documents.  But that scrolling tree animation can't be ignored:   It jumps off the screen almost.

I hope to comprehend this tree and its long vine-like branches eventually. 

Chris,  

This is a powerful capability of Onshape, so let me try to add some comments that might help:

1. Creating a version allows you to mark a design at a "point in time." This version is immutable (it will not change), you can continue on with the journey and make additional changes and then create another version - think of it as "snapshotting."
2. Branching allows you to explore different variations of a design. You can branch the design yourself (think of it as concept A, concept B...) or you can branch the design to allow a colleague to work independently of your work. Of course, you can merge changes back.

Try watching this video to see if it helps:  https://www.onshape.com/videos/branching

Let me know what you think.

John